Lineker and Carter put on 122 for the third wicket after Grimsby had taken the first two wickets for 52 runs while Stubbs and Alex Willerton shared an unbeaten final partnership of 49.

Grimsby quickly found themselves 16-4 but Brendan Volley and Jack Harrison dug in and, when Harrison fell to Willerton, the score had reached 46. Volley continued to attack the bowling, hitting four fours and three sixes and had reached 39 when he ran out of partners with Grimsby’s score on 64, Willerton with 7-43.

Ben Smith

The only century of the day came at Grantham where Dan Freeman hit an unbeaten 104 and shared an unbeaten stand of 96 with Dan Webb (60no) to take the home side to 251-4.

Bourne got off to a good start, reaching 90 for the loss of two wickets and with Carl Wilson at the crease runs flowed steadily, the wicketkeeper putting on 59 for the fifth wicket with Quewin O’Connor.

Wilson finally fell to Freeman for 72, making it 225-8 and only six more runs were added before Grantham claimed victory.

Deeping went down to newcomers Alford who now occupy equal third place in the table.

Rikki Bovey hit 83 of Alford’s final total of 243 at Outgang Road and Nick Bennett’s 6-61 helped his team seal victory as the home side were all out for 203.

Last week’s joint leaders Woodhall Spa suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Lindum who got off to a poor start to the season.

James Kimber took an early Woodhall wicket but Pradeep Chanditha(58) and Henry Wilson added 101 for the second wicket and Prasanna Jayawardene chipped in with 42 to take the total to 220, Jake Benson taking five wickets.

Lindum had reached 59-3 when Will Taylor joined skipper Charlie Tomlinson to add 88 and Tomlinson put on a further 61 with Euan Pickering before being out for 95, leaving Pickering and Benson to take Lindum to victory.